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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29781999">Unity</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombified_queer/pseuds/zombified_queer'>zombified_queer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bugsnax (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Body Horror, F/F, Hive Mind, Post-Canon, Relationship Issues, Sometimes couples therapy is you your wife and the hivemind you're connected to</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:22:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>716</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29781999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombified_queer/pseuds/zombified_queer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Because like this, Eggabell and Lizbert have no privacy from each orher, not even in their thoughts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eggabell Batternugget/Elizabert Megafig</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Unity</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's overwhelming in those first couple of seconds they're joined. They can't lie to each other. Everything they think and feel is an open radio wave for the other to tune into.</p>
<p>And they don't know how to make it stop.</p>
<p>Lizbert has more experience with this body, every limb and claw and wing and faux-muscle. When Eggabell leans down to hoist the journalist up, it's Lizbert's control.</p>
<p>And Eggabell, shakily, moves Lizbert to pick Filbo up.</p>
<p>Lizbert was right. It's not a car. There is no moving over.</p>
<p>I told you so.</p>
<p>Eggabell glances at Lizbert, questioning. Lizbert hears it and nods.</p>
<p>It takes work for them to move this awkward, large bug carapace around. But when they work together, it's smoother. </p>
<p>"I missed you, Bell."</p>
<p>"I missed you too, Liz." It's not like they can ignore this ache they both feel. "So so much."</p>
<p>The larger Snax pose a problem. Even with Eggabell, the hivemind of Snax fights them. They want to devour until the hunger has subsided.</p>
<p>Eggabell knows that psychic force of Lizbert trying to hold the Snax off alone. She lends Lizbert her help and it stings.</p>
<p>Remember the story of Atlas? </p>
<p>Eggabell acknowledges it. She didn't expect the burden to cut into her like this.</p>
<p>Their friends are going, going. And not going to make it. The Mothza Supreme fixed the airship with a cold stare. A hungry stare.</p>
<p>The jump, made together, is a perfect unity. Eggabell can't help but cheer. All she's ever done up to this point is cheer.</p>
<p>But when Mothza Supreme writhes under them, dissolving into smaller, harmless Snax, Eggabell knows she's more active.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, Bell.</p>
<p>There's nothing to apologize for.</p>
<p>Their friends are gone, safe. They would have felt it if they were assimilated. And the island keeps sinking. </p>
<p>Together, they burrow back into the Undersnax to wait it out. Like a cicada. Waiting for the trembling to stop.</p>
<p>"How do we...?"</p>
<p>"We don't," Lizbert answers. "Or, I suppose, we wait for it to wear off."</p>
<p>"Oh."</p>
<p>For a while, it's blissful. They never have to actively speak about their troubles and traumas. Every little worry shouted to the other.</p>
<p>I really wasn't going to be with Floofty.</p>
<p>I should have been better. Never pushed you away like that.</p>
<p>You were just worried.</p>
<p>Bell, I am always scared. For you. For us.</p>
<p>And I'm scared for you too.</p>
<p>And then the novelty wears off. There can never be any privacy between the two of them. They are trapped at the bottom of a sunken island with each other knowing every single thought. It becomes infuriating, exacerbating every scrape and wound they thought healed with time.</p>
<p>But they're together. It's only them down here. Them and the Snax. And they're starting to dwindle.</p>
<p>So they work. Building curtains and doors and windows but not walls. Walls got them here in the first place.</p>
<p>"We should dig our way out."</p>
<p>"Yeah, I think we'll be fine."</p>
<p>It's their final challenge, the excavation. Like a cicada bursting from the earth. It certainly does feel like years spent underground.</p>
<p>While they dig, the pieces of Bugsnax start to fall away. Their wings turn into a runny, wet mess of dough and cheese. A leg here turned into a useless pile of bendy straws. Those powerful claws become nothing more than browning slices of apples.</p>
<p>And it feels like years to dig their way up to the surface. </p>
<p>The sun is warm on their faces. Their connection is so distant. It feels wrong when they've regained their own separate bodies.</p>
<p>"Liz?"</p>
<p>"Bell, I'm right here."</p>
<p>"I can't hear you. Liz, it's too quiet."</p>
<p>Lizbert cups Eggabell's face in both paws. "We're okay, Bell. We're free."</p>
<p>Eggabell's paws find Lizbert's. But this feels wrong. Eggabell should feel Lizbert feeling Eggabell's face.</p>
<p>"We'll be okay, Bell. Remember how we communicated?"</p>
<p>"It's not the same, Liz. It was so...effortless."</p>
<p>But it did cost a lot.</p>
<p>The silence wounds.</p>
<p>"But we're okay," Eggabell agrees.</p>
<p>Lizbert kisses Eggabell's forehead. </p>
<p>"Hey. The sun's setting, Liz."</p>
<p>"It's pretty." It seems like Lizbert's thinking something, also disoriented by the lack of a link. "Like you."</p>
<p>"Charmer."</p>
<p>They sit on the sand, Eggabell leaning her head on Lizbert's shoulder. It's nice. Close, but not that close.</p>
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